18 U.S.C. § 1707
Section 1707 · Theft of property used by Postal Service
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 33 court decisions — leading case United States v. Starr (1987)
Most recently applied in United States v. Alexander Menendez (September 2011)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Whoever steals, purloins, or embezzles any property used by the Postal Service, or appropriates any such property to his own or any other than its proper use, or conveys away any such property to the hindrance or detriment of the public service, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; but if the value of such property does not exceed $1,000, he shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §313 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §190, 35 Stat. 1124).
The phrase “used by” was substituted for “in use by or belonging to” in order to limit the application of the section to property used by the Post Office Department. Theft of public property belonging to governmental departments is covered by section 641 of this title.
A fine of “$1,000” was substituted for “$200,” thus increasing the maximum to conform with other comparable sections. (See section 1705 of this title.)
The smaller penalty for an offense involving property valued at $100 or less was added. (See reviser's notes under sections 641 and 645 of this title.)
Minor changes in phraseology were made.
Amendments
1996—Pub. L. 104–294 substituted “$1,000” for “$100”.
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $1,000” after “service, shall be” and for “fined not more than $500” after “he shall be”.
1970—Pub. L. 91–375 substituted “Postal Service” for “Post Office Department”.
Effective Date of 1970 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 91–375 effective within 1 year after Aug. 12, 1970, on date established therefor by Board of Governors of United States Postal Service and published by it in Federal Register, see section 15(a) of Pub. L. 91–375, set out as an Effective Date note preceding section 101 of Title 39, Postal Service.